Synopses & Reviews
Roy Peter Clark, one of America's most influential writing teachers, offers writing lessons we can draw from 25 great texts.
Where
do writers learn their best moves? They use a technique that Roy Peter
Clark calls X-ray reading, a form of reading that lets you penetrate
beyond the surface of a text to see how meaning is actually being made.
In THE ART OF X-RAY READING, Clark invites you to don your X-ray reading
glasses and join him on a guided tour through some of the most
exquisite and masterful literary works of all time, from The Great Gatsby to Lolita to The Bluest Eye,
and many more. Along the way, he shows you how to mine these
masterpieces for invaluable writing strategies that you can add to your
arsenal and apply in your own writing. Once you've experienced X-ray
reading, your writing will never be the same again.
Review
"This is an infectiously enthusiastic guide to becoming an active reader, an homage to the wealth of meaning in great literature, and a striking demonstration of how that meaning can be transmitted from author to reader across centuries and oceans." Publishers Weekly
Review
"This enjoyable book is perfect for students, writers, and anyone who wants to learn more about great literature." Library Journal (starred review)
Review
"Just
when you think Clark, who has written some of the best books on the
writer's craft, has covered everything related to the subject, he digs
deep into literature and excavates a gold mine of artistic strategies
for great writing....With lively, colorful writing and inspired
practical advice, this guide earns a spot along with Clark's Writing Tools as essential reading for writers. Recommended for book lovers as well." Kirkus (Starred Review)
About the Author
Roy
Peter Clark is senior scholar at the Poynter Institute, one of the most
prestigious schools for journalists in the world. He has taught writing
at every level — to schoolchildren and Pulitzer Prize-winning
authors — for more than thirty years. A writer who teaches and a teacher
who writes, he has authored or edited seventeen books on writing and
journalism, including How to Write Short, Writing Tools, The Glamour of Grammar, and Help! for Writers.
He lives in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Roy Peter Clark on PowellsBooks.Blog
The most important advice I received about the writing craft came from an influential teacher and author named
Donald Murray. "Remember, Roy," he told me, "a page a day equals a book a year."
It did not seem possible, but I did the math. A double-spaced page equals...
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